Comet question.

[Jnicholes]

Hi everyone,

I have a simple question. I took 32 pictures at 8:08 PM on 09/15/2023 of comet C/2023 P1 Nishimura. This is the result of all 32 pictures stacked through Registax.

As you can see, I got the comet. However, something is puzzling me. It looks like it has two tails. I thought comets were limited to one tail. Was I mistaken?

I checked Registax, and did verify that it stacked properly. Even a single photo shows this “twin tail.”

Simple question. Do comets usually have two tails?

Jared

[Gfamily]

Hi Jared
Nice image, and indeed comets quite often have two tails.
The two tails are called the dust tail and the ion tail.
The dust tail is dust etc emitted by the comet as it heats and outgassed due to the heat of the Sun. This tends to lie along the line of the comet's orbit.
The ion tail is produced by the ionising effect of the Sun's ultraviolet light stripping electrons from the gas. This interacts with the Solar Wind to produce a glowing tail that generally lies at a radial direction from the Sun.

[Jnicholes]

Awesome, thanks for letting me know. That was puzzling me until just now.